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AHA Announcements

Keep up with the latest AHA activity supporting history and historical thinking in all fields and professions.

Antoinette Burton Selected as University of Illinois Presidential Fellow

December 6, 2016 - Antoinette Burton, chair of the AHA's 2018 annual meeting Program Committee (Washington, DC, January 4-7) and member of the Committee on Committees, has been selected by the Office of the President of the University of Illinois System to serve as a year-long fellow. In this role, Burton will make contributions to the future of higher education in Illinois and bring her research in the history of women and gender in transnational contexts to strategic university initiatives. The Presidential Fellows Program recruits distinguished faculty in the U of I system advance the institution’s “long legacy of leadership in the arts and humanities.”

AHA Statement in Aftermath of 2016 Election

November 18, 2016 - An unusually bitter and divisive election has been followed by continuing evidence of polarization to the point of harassment seldom seen in recent American history. Historians can say with confidence that this is not our nation's finest hour. Language previously relegated to the margins has moved out of the shadows, emboldening elements of American society less interested in a more perfect union than in division and derision.

Historians should, as part of our work, explore the multiple factors that have shaped this new terrain. The American Historical Association encourages that scholarship, but at the same time condemns the language and harassment that have charred the American landscape in recent weeks.

The AHA is chartered by the US Congress to promote the study of history in the United States. To advance this goal, the association has agreed on shared standards, including an emphasis on mutual respect and reasoned discourse-the ongoing conversation among historians holding diverse points of view and who learn from each other. A commitment to such discourse-balancing fair and honest criticism with inclusive practices and openness to different ideas-makes possible the fruitful exchange of views, opinions, and knowledge.

The American Historical Association reaffirms its commitment to mutual respect, reasoned discourse, and appreciation for humanity in its full variety. We will strive to demonstrate these values in all aspects of practice, including in our roles as teachers, researchers, and citizens.

Mexican American Heritage Textbook Rejected

November 17, 2016 - With a 14-0 vote, the Texas State Board of Education has denied the adoption of a proposed Mexican American studies textbook denounced by historians for numerous factual and interpretive errors. In September, the AHA, with the assistance of Teaching Division Councilor Trinidad Gonzales (South Texas Coll.) and association member Emilio Zamora (Univ. of Texas, Austin), sent a letter to the Chair of the Board expressing its concern about the textbook. The TBOE has communicated its gratitude to the AHA for providing appropriate professional expertise essential to the Board's ability to properly evaluate the submission.

Alex Lichtenstein to serve as next Editor of the American Historical Review

October 25, 2016 - The American Historical Association (AHA) has appointed Alex Lichtenstein as editor of the American Historical Review (AHR), beginning August 2017. "Professor Lichtenstein brings energy and insight to the editorial direction of the American Historical Review," AHA president Pat Manning said of the appointment. "The AHA Council looks forward to working with him, the journal staff, and [the AHR editorial] board in charting the future of the premier historical journal." Read more on AHA Today.

Rachel G. Fuchs, 1939-2016

October 21, 2016 - Rachel G. Fuchs, a longtime AHA member who served on the 2016 Joan Kelly Memorial Prize Committee, passed away on October 15, 2016. A respected scholar of French women's history, Fuchs was Regents' Professor and Distinguished Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. She also served as president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association in 2008.

AHA Guidelines Crucial to Response to Controversial Textbook

September 9, 2016 - AHA Teaching Division Councilor Trinidad Gonzales (South Texas Coll.) and AHA member Emilio Zamora (Univ. of Texas, Austin) are part of a committee that has released a reportciting numerous factual inaccuracies and generally poor historical work in a textbook proposed to meet Texas’s Mexican American Studies standard in high schools. Drawing on the AHA’s Guidelines for the Preparation, Evaluation, and Selection of History Textbooksand the Association’s Statement on Standards of Professional Conductto evaluate Mexican-American Heritage, the committee, convened by a member of the Texas State Board of Education, found a lack of “critical dialogue with current scholarship,” which resulted in “a polemic attempting to masquerade as a textbook.” The AHA remains unaware of any role played by professional historians in writing the text; apparently the publisher ruled out participation by scholars of Mexican descent because of concerns that they would be “biased” (quoting news reports). Here at 400 A St. SE we wonder how many of our colleagues born and raised in the United States have authored US history textbooks tainted by their “bias” as Americans.

The committee, convened by Ruben Cortez, the 2nd District representative to the Texas State Board of Education, released its report at a press conference on Tuesday, September 6. AHA members Gonzales and Zamora testified in front of the Texas State Board of Education on September 13. You can watch the hearing online.

AHA Tuning Project featured in The History Teacher

August 23, 2016 - The August issue of The History Teacherspotlights the AHA's Tuning the History Major project, an "incredible and ambitious endeavor" to articulate the knowledge and skills that students acquire when they study history. The issue features articles from a range of faculty voices, representing the diversity of perspectives that the AHA coalesced during theTuning project. AHA K-12 members automatically receive a subscription to The History Teacher. All other members can subscribe or purchase individual issues at a discount. Learn more at MyAHA.

AHA Speaks Out Against Actions in Turkey

July 25, 2016 - The AHA, as a member of Scholars at Risk, and also as a scholarly body concerned with and committed to protecting the working environment and rights of historians across the world, endorses in full the statement issued by Scholars at Risk calling for an ongoing dialogue about and the restoration of legal rights to academics in Turkey. The AHA has also joined more than 20 other scholarly societies and the American Council of Learned Societies in a letter expressing similar concerns and objections. These statements follow the AHA's letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the mistreatment of scholars (February 4, 2016). [Updated July 26, 2016]

The First Hundred Days: Priorities for a New US President

The value of history is never more apparent than at the beginning of a new presidential administration, when agendas are established and interpretations are solidified. On the eve of the presidential inauguration, the American Historical Association presents "The First Hundred Days: Priorities for a New President" as the plenary session at the 131st annual meeting, January 5-8, 2017, in Denver.